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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

One Man's Trash....

Hubby and I have several Christmases. Friday morning, we did stockings with his mother. Friday evening, we did a presents exchange with my family. On Saturday night, hubby and I did our own gift exchange.

I like that. It draws out the fun, gives you something to look forward to. Stocking stuffers are always fun. We've been trying to cut down on the goodies that go into them (think chocolate: milk, dark, chili (can't wait to try that one), little boxes of Russell Stovers), but inevitably, they stockings are stuffed with them. Hubby tries to be good, and somehow I always end up with purple, pink, and turquoise pens--makes it easier to find the changes when I edit a manuscript. And he always includes those little Post-It tabs that I can use when editing a ms to mark the pages I have changes on. (By the time I'm done reading, there's a rainbow of tabs sticking out!)

My brother always gets me the best stuff. This year he gave me the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD (which I did not get to see at the theater), AND Julie and Julia (which I did), AND the best of Will Farrell on Saturday Night Live, and even MORE stuff. (He really goes overboard and I LOVE IT.) On Sunday, he called me to ask what I'd gotten from my hubby. LOTS of DVDs (it's going to be tough to sit down and write the next book and NOT be tempted by all those lovely movies and the entire run of several TV shows). So I dutifully gave him low-down.

His puzzled reaction: "I thought you said you got good stuff."

Hey, I happen to love every one of those movies, including A Christmas Story, Inside Moves, Murder By Decree--I haven't seen the latter two in a long time and wonder if they'll hold up to what I remember. It'll be interesting to see Murder By Decree again (Sherlock Holmes as played by Christopher Plummer, with James Mason as Watson), especially considering I plan to go see the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. (who I love!!!). And it was odd to find out that the director of Murder By Decree also directed A Christmas Story. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum!

My brother was also absolutely horrified to find out that hubby had also given me the 1096-page biography of the Queen Mum. I had to shake my head at that one. I've already read the first two chapters and can't wait to really dive into it.

So I guess it's true--one man's trash is another man's (or woman's) treasure.